


and if i'd fall i know you'd catch me

by minimitchell



Category: EastEnders (TV)
Genre: 5 Times, Ballum being parents, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Future Fic, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Fic, M/M, Milestones, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:02:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24559615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/minimitchell/pseuds/minimitchell
Summary: 5 glimpses into a great love story
Relationships: Ben Mitchell & Lexi Pearce, Callum "Halfway" Highway & Lexi Pearce, Callum "Halfway" Highway/Ben Mitchell
Comments: 12
Kudos: 80





	and if i'd fall i know you'd catch me

**Author's Note:**

> canon is frustrating so have 5k of pure fluff.  
> thanks for reading. <3

1.

If you would’ve asked Callum last week, or just two days ago, how this weekend was going to play out, he would’ve been optimistic. More than that, he would’ve been ecstatic.

  
He had been looking forward to this weekend ever since Ben had told him about the weekend trip Jay and Lola had decided to take over the bank holiday, looking forward to spending three whole days with Ben and Lexi. Callum and Lexi had made a whole list of plans and activities they wanted to do, while Ben had just smiled at them and had indulged their musings, trying to sip his coffee in peace.

  
They had wanted to go to the park, the zoo, maybe act like annoying little tourists and wander down to Camden for an afternoon. They had planned movie nights with all kinds of Disney movies, snuggling together on the Mitchell couch with mugs of hot chocolate in their hands.

  
Their plans, as it turned out, were entirely for naught.

  
Instead of strolling through the zoo, Ben on one hand and Lexi on the other, Callum was now looking down at his boyfriend, cocooned in the thick sheets of his bed, with a wet towel pressed against his forehead.

  
“Want me to make you some toast? See if you can keep it down?”

  
Ben let out a weak whine in response, letting Callum know that his suggestion was definitely out of the question. Callum had learned pretty quickly into this whole ordeal that Ben was a difficult person to tend to when he was sick, constantly moaning about his head or stomach and being just all around whiny.

  
Not that Callum was too annoyed by that. He loved Ben and he was obviously going to take care of him no matter what. It was just unfortunate that he was the only one that had seemingly been spared from the stomach bug, that had taken a hold of Ben and Lexi.

  
Because taking care of a sick Ben was nothing. But taking care of a sick Ben _and_ a sick Lexi was a whole new territory.

  
Lexi had fallen ill first, shortly after they had said goodbye to Jay and Lola, so Ben had still been able to take care of her at the beginning. That was until he himself had started throwing up at some point during the night. Since then, Callum had tried to divide his attention between both of them, checking in with the one only to dash to the other. Cleaning buckets, changing towels, making teas on repeat.

  
“I’ll make you some tea, yeah?”

  
“Yeah, thanks.”, Ben rasped out from under the blankets, face still contorted in pain.

  
Callum ran a hand over his cheek, trying to comfort him at least a little, before he got up from the bed to move downstairs towards the kitchen. He got as far as the landing, where he was stopped by the small cry of his name coming from Lexi’s room.

  
The little girl was tucked up in her own bed, the mirror image of her dad right now, her eyes a little droopy from exhaustion.

  
“Hey, darling. You feeling any better?”

  
Lexi shook her head slightly, her blonde curls draped messily over her pillow, not being held together at all by the ponytail Callum had tried to give her earlier.

  
He sat down on the small bed next to her, running his hand soothingly over her head and trying to gage whether her fever had gone down at all. It was the thing Ben worried about the most; that her fever would continue to climb until Callum was forced to take her to hospital, ruining Lola’s holiday in the process. He would have to take her temperature again later, just to be sure.

  
“Do you want anything? Water? Or some toast?”

  
Callum was completely out of his depth here. He had never had to take care of a sick child before, didn’t really know how to. Sure, he had looked after Ollie before when he had been a little fuzzy, back when he had lived with the Carter’s, but Lexi wasn’t a baby. She was a small person and Callum had never been the only one to take care of her when she was poorly.  
With Ben being out of commission, he tried to do what felt natural. Tried to remember a time when there had still been a person in _his_ childhood that took care of him. What had made _him_ feel better back then.

  
“Can you tell me a story? Like daddy does?”

  
Callum smiled down at her, continuing to run his hands over her forehead and through her hair. He had never told her a story before, had just listened in on Ben from time to time, spinning an epic tale with hushed but animated voices until Lexi had fallen asleep. Just the fact that she wanted him to perform this sacred, little ritual for her, filled his heart with love.

  
“Course, darling.”

  
He tried his best to create a tale that was suitable for a seven-year-old, making up a story about a princess trying to find some magical item. Before long, Lexi’s eyes were firmly shut, her chest rising and falling slowly.

  
Callum made sure that she was tucked in properly, pulling the comforter up over her shoulders. She probably wouldn’t sleep for long as it was only late afternoon, but any rest she got would be good for her. And it would certainly calm Ben’s worries to know that his daughter was sound asleep, not contorting and whining in pain anymore.

  
To be completely honest, Callum had been worried about her as well. Seeing her in such a state and not being able to help her or make things better for her, had broken him a little, her little distressed cries going straight to his heart. He understood now what Ben meant when he described the constant worry you had when you’re a parent.

  
It hit him suddenly that this was exactly what he felt like. A parent.

  
For the first time since him and Ben had started dating, he felt like an actual parent to Lexi, not just like Ben’s boyfriend that was also in Lexi’s life. Granted, it hadn’t happened by his own choosing, but it felt good. It felt right. And surprisingly, it didn’t feel nearly as scary as Callum had always thought it would.

  
He made his way back to Ben’s bedroom and found his boyfriend out of his cocoon, the towel now placed on his bedside table. He still looked a bit ashen, but more aware of his surroundings. He gave Callum a tired smile, scooching back a little on the bed to make room for the older man.

  
“Lexi’s asleep again. I think her fever is down, but I’ll check it later.”

  
Ben untangled his hand from under the pillow and held it out for Callum to take into his own for a minute.

  
“Thank you, really. I know this isn’t what you had in mind for this weekend.”

  
Callum just shrugged, freeing himself from his hoodie and getting into bed beside his boyfriend. He sat up against the headboard, definitely not ready to fall asleep in the middle of the day no matter how exhausting it was to take care of two sick people.

  
“It’s part of it, isn’t it?! I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”

  
Ben pressed a kiss onto Callum’s chest, tucking himself into the taller man’s side to place his head onto one of Callum’s thighs. Callum grabbed one of his books from the nightstand and tangled one hand into Ben’s hair, thankful for the first moment of peace in two days.

  
He hoped that they could fulfill all their plans another time, was almost sure they could, because they had all the time in the world together. As a little family.

  
He really liked the sound of that.

2.

Callum was exhausted. He could barely keep his eyes open as he made his way from the tube station to his home. He knew that therapy wouldn’t be easy and that it would drag up memories and feelings he’d rather forget about, but he didn’t expect it to actually take this much of a toll on him.

  
It hadn’t been his idea to go see a therapist; not by a long shot. But eventually there had been a point where he just hadn’t been able to deny it anymore. Not after the nightmares had slowly turned into completely sleepless nights, stealing himself away into the living room or kitchen so as to not wake Ben from his peaceful slumber. Not after he had experienced a particularly bad anxiety attack while he was supposed to look after Lexi. He still remembered resurfacing from the whirlwind of his thoughts to Ben holding his face and speaking calming words, Lexi sitting on the couch behind them crying in fear. Ben had looked at him with tears in his eyes and had begged him to speak to someone.

  
So Callum had looked for help, because if there was one thing he couldn’t bear, it was seeing Lexi in tears. He had been seeing his therapist for a few weeks now and it had been hard.  
Sifting through all these painful memories and experiences wasn’t exactly joyous. But he knew he needed to heal and he knew his family needed him to heal. And while he mostly felt relieved after the sessions, today he just felt unbelievably tired.

  
He could hear someone pottering around in the kitchen as he approached the door. Peering through the kitchen window he could make out Ben moving pots and pans around in order to wipe down the hob. It immediately settled something in his turbulent chest, like it always did when he saw his boyfriend. Just like so many times before, he suddenly couldn’t stand _not_ being in Ben’s immediate presence as he saw him.

  
Ben turned around when he heard the door open and close. He obviously wanted to say something but his words seemed to be stuck in his throat once he took in Callum’s red and puffy eyes and his drooped shoulders. Callum tried to give him a small smile as a greeting, but for some reasons he couldn’t get his features to do what he wanted.

  
Ben threw the rag he was holding in the direction of the sink and rounded the table to pull Callum into his arms. It was a challenge because of their height difference, but Callum had experience with tucking himself into his boyfriend’s smaller frame. He pressed his face into the space between Ben’s neck and shoulder and just breathed. For the first time since leaving his therapist’s office, he felt everything slow down. Ben was rubbing small circles into his back and mumbled words that Callum wasn’t able to focus on.

  
He thought it was almost poetic. That he had seen war and blood and death when fighting for peace, when he had found his own peace right here – in the arms of what was, most definitely, the love of his life.

  
“-so brave and amazing. I’m so proud of you.”

  
Callum carefully pulled his head away from Ben’s neck to look him in the eyes. It still overwhelmed him sometimes how much love there was between them. He had never thought that he’d get to be this happy and just himself with another man, but then he had met Ben and his carefully constructed façade had all but collapsed like a house of cards. In retrospect, he couldn’t say he was sad about it. Not if it meant coming home and waking up next to Ben every day.

  
“Do you want to talk about it?”

  
Callum could hear the hesitancy in Ben’s voice. He knew from experience that Callum didn’t really want to talk about the bad sessions and all Ben could offer him on those days was his unwavering support. _God_ , Callum was so unbelievably grateful for this man in front of him.

  
He slowly shook his head and took a breath, not trusting his own voice just yet. Ben nodded his head in understanding and raised one of his hand to Callum’s face, wiping away a tear that had somehow escaped him without permission.

  
“Then how about you sit down and eat something. Don’t worry, I just reheated the leftovers from yesterday. And after we’ll just watch a movie with Lex. Sound good?”

  
Sending a small smile his way, Ben pulled out a chair and motioned for Callum to sit. Now that he mentioned it, Callum could hear the low sounds of the TV coming from the living room, no doubt playing Lexi’s latest obsession. It settled something in Callum’s chest, knowing that he had his family right here even with all the bad stuff that had happened in his past.

  
“Hey, Ben.”

  
Callum waited for his boyfriend to turn around and extended his hand, knowing Ben would take it without question. Ben sat down in front of him and took his hand in both of his, tilting his head at him inquisitively. Callum looked at him for a moment before he gave Ben a small smile.

  
“Thank you. For everything. I… I just love you. A whole lot.”

  
Ben chuckled softly. He had become more comfortable with expressing his feelings for Callum in the months they’d been together and Callum felt extremely lucky that he had been selected as one of the few people Ben Mitchell trusted himself enough to be vulnerable with. He felt Ben run a finger along his knuckles and looked from their enclosed hands up into the rich blue of Ben’s eyes.

  
“That’s good. ‘Cause I love you, too.”

3.

Just looking over at Callum sitting at the bar of the Vic made Ben feel warm throughout his whole body. Callum was sandwiched between Lola and Whitney, laughing at something the latter had said. His suit jacket had been abandoned when they had arrived at the pub earlier that day and his bowtie was probably lying somewhere between here and the loo, where they had snuck off to earlier when they just couldn’t keep their hands off of each other anymore.

  
He looked absolutely beautiful to Ben today – hell, he couldn’t believe his luck any day. But today, and even now, Ben felt so incredibly lucky he couldn’t even describe it. Callum’s hair had lost some of its gel, no doubt at least partly down to Ben running his hands through it excessively during their little escapade in the toilets, and his eyes were just that little bit glassy that told Ben that he was well and truly drunk. That’s what happened when you were the likeable, nice groom, Ben reckoned, everyone was getting you drinks.

  
Callum outright giggled at something Lola said, face warm and carefree and Ben really couldn’t believe that this man was his forever now and that he got to take him home every day for the rest of his life. Normally, he would scold himself for being so soppy but it was probably allowed today. It was his wedding day after all.

  
Ben had just bid goodbye to Les and Pam, sending them on their way to Billy’s where they were staying for the weekend, with the promise of having breakfast with them the next day.

  
He tried to decide how many people they needed to get all their presents the short distance to their home, hoping that Stuart and Jay would help before they both got completely, black-out drunk, when he heard the distinct clearing of a throat into the microphone, that had been set up in the back of the pub.

  
He looked up to see his husband – god, his _husband_ – gripping the microphone with both hands, swaying slightly from one side to the other in a drunken manner. Lola and Whitney were giggling to each other, no doubt the instigators to whatever was about to happen.

  
“Hiya. Thanks again everybody for coming to my wedding – my _real_ wedding this time.”

  
Callum stopped to let out a little huff of laughter, cementing the fact to Ben that he was truly drunk, if the slurred words weren’t enough indication. Callum’s eyes searched the room until they settled on Ben, raising his hand to point a finger in the general direction of him.

  
“I just wanted to say a few words about my husband. Because I have a husband now. And I want you all to, to know how great he is.”

  
Ben felt a warm blush taking over his face. He had squirmed under the attention all day today, not really looking forward to being vulnerable and open about his feelings in front of half the square. He had tried to block out anyone else, focusing only on Callum for most of the ceremony, but he had still been flustered all the way through the speeches and the reception.

  
He could see most of their remaining guests in his periphery, all amused by Callum’s drunken antic. He looked over to the bar, where Mick and Shirley both looked like they expected Callum to embarrass himself at any moment now. Ben took a few steps towards the little stage, ready to save his husband in case that happened.

  
“I know I already said all that in my vows, but I need to tell you again. Right now. _They_ said I should.”, he pointed to the two girls sitting at the bar and when Ben followed his motion, he was greeted by two shit-eating grins.

  
“I love you, Ben. Really, really, love you. You’re so kind and funny and supportive and I know you don’t let everyone see this, but you let me see it. You’ve always been there for me, even when I didn’t want you to be. And you never gave up on me. You’re so loyal. And I know everyone at work is sick to death of hearing about you, but I never wanna stop talking about you. ‘Cause everyone needs to know that you’re the best person for me.”

  
Ben felt the emotions bubbling up inside him and clogging up his throat. It still amazed him that Callum always found the right words to reduce him to an emotional mess, just by being the sincere person his husband naturally was.

  
His vows earlier had managed to make Ben spill a few tears. No matter how hard he had tried to keep it together, any mention of Callum wanting to be his last love when he hadn’t been his first would do that to him. They had definitely blown Ben’s own vows out of the park and judging by the long hug both his mum and Pam had given Callum afterwards, he hadn’t been alone in his appreciation.

  
He didn’t think he could sit through another round of love and praise by Callum without completely losing it, the alcohol in his blood only heightening his emotions.

  
He barely registered the coos coming from somewhere behind him, in favor of sharing a small smile with his husband. Callum looked at him as if they were the only ones in the room right now and fueled by his drunken mind they very well could’ve been.

  
“You’re so brave. And smart. And you’re so fit.”

  
It earned him a couple laughs from their guests, a catcall coming from near the table, where the Beales had congregated. Ben couldn’t help but chuckle, though he took a few more steps towards the stage anyway, fearing that Callum could pass the stage of drunk and loving Callum to drunk and horny Callum within mere words.

  
In hindsight, he figured he knew his husband all too well.

  
“You’re so fit in that suit I just _had_ to shag you earlier. We’re so sorry, Mick.”

  
Ignoring Mick’s loud protests, Ben sprang into action, pulling Callum away from the mic before he could get into more detail.

  
“Okay, that’s enough for you today. Come on, Cal.”

  
Callum’s insistence that he wasn’t done yet got drowned out by the howls of laughter erupting from their guests, Ben pulling the older man further away from the stage towards the exit. He thought he saw his mother with her face in her hands in passing, Lola and Whitney somewhere between mortified and dying from laughter.

  
He couldn’t wait to get back at them for this, but for now he focused on getting his husband home and into bed, trying to prepare himself for the mortification that would undoubtedly set in for him in the morning.

4.

“We could go see a movie tonight, if you fancy? Or the pub?”

  
They were both sat at the kitchen table, the remnants of their breakfast still spread out in front of them, enjoying that for once they didn’t need to worry about work or appointments. Callum had the weekend off and Ben had decided to join him – one of the perks of being your own boss he reckoned.

  
They had just started talking about what they could do with all that free time on their hands - apart from the obvious, of course – when the kitchen door opened in a flurry, welcoming a sour-looking Lexi followed by an equally annoyed Lola.

  
Lexi marched past them in a huff, slamming the kitchen door shut for good measure as she passed through, without a word of acknowledgement to either Ben or Callum.

  
“Oi, how about a hello, missus!”, Ben called after her to no avail.

  
He exchanged a look with his husband as Lola sighed and fell into the chair in front of them. Lexi’s bad and stroppy behavior had become a too regular occurrence in their households with her being short and downright rude to every one of her parental figures; even to Callum, who had never had to face the brunt of Lexi’s tantrums before.

  
It worried them all, because she only seemed to act out with her family. The school had assured them that Lexi was behaving normally there, but they were all at their wits end as to what caused her behavior. She definitely was too young for it to be puberty; a possibility Ben chose to ignore resolutely.

  
Trying to talk to Lexi had certainly not helped either. All they ever got from her were snappy remarks or angry silence. Ben could tell it was getting to Lola, making her doubt her parenting skills more often than not.

  
“You need to sort out your daughter. I can’t deal with this today.”

  
“Oh, now she’s _my_ daughter? Come on, what’s she done now?”

  
“She wants to change her name to Mitchell. Won’t take no for an answer.”

  
Ben’s eyebrows knitted together in confusion. They hadn’t discussed a change of Lexi’s name, since coming back to Walford together, Ben knowing that Lexi remaining a Pearce was important to Lola. And Ben himself had never insisted on it being changed; he knew that the little girl belonged to him and he didn’t need his surname on her papers to prove it.  
He couldn’t come up with the reason why she insisted on her name being changed all of a sudden. It wasn’t like anything had changed for her recently and she hadn’t even said anything along those lines when him and Callum had gotten married two years ago.

  
“What did you tell her?”, Callum asked from beside him, a worried expression on his face.

  
“I asked her why and she didn’t give me a reason, just said she wanted to. When I said no, she called me a _stinky face_.”

  
Ben had to suppress his laughter at that. He sometimes forgot that she was just a ten-year-old, being the clever girl she was, but when it came to insults she really did show her age. Lola just gave him a dark look, obviously not seeing the comedy in the situation.

  
Ben sighed and got up from his chair, already bemoaning the quiet weekend he had planned with his husband and made his way into the living room, where Lexi was sat on the couch, watching some program that Ben never really believed to be for children.

  
He kneeled down in front of her, effectively blocking her view of the TV in the process, to which Lexi only huffed and crossed her arms defensively.

  
“Wanna tell me what’s bothering you, sweetheart?”

  
His question was met with silence, while Lexi continued to stare at the carpet in front of her. Ben reached out to run his hand over her hair, counting it as a win when she didn’t immediately shrug him off like she had done countless other times in these last few weeks.

  
“Your mum told me you wanna change your name to mine.”

  
“She won’t let me.”, Lexi said around a pout.

  
“Why do you want to now? You always liked being a Pearce, right?”

  
“Yeah, well now I wanna be a Mitchell.”

  
Lexi seemed to cross her arms even tighter around her little body and Ben couldn’t shake the feeling that this was about something entirely different than what name she carried.

  
“We just wanna know why, Lex. I promise we won’t be disappointed or mad. We just wanna understand you, princess.”

  
Lexi seemed like she was contemplating his words for a while, before lifting her eyes at meeting Ben’s gaze. He was surprised to find them filled with unshed tears.

  
“I heard you and Callum talking the other night. About babies. And if you have a baby it’s gonna be a Mitchell, because you and Callum are both Mitchells. And then no one will know you’re my dad. I won’t even be your family anymore.”

  
Ben closed his eyes at the realization. Callum had brought up the topic while they were lounging on the couch after they had spent the day taking Lexi shopping and to the park. He hadn’t noticed her listening in, but he should’ve figured; she was sneaky like that.

  
Callum had asked him if he had ever thought about having more children and Ben in turn had asked him if that was something his husband wanted. They had agreed to look into their finances and options for having a kid together, but they hadn’t told anyone else yet, wanting to wait out their appointments with the agencies they had found.

  
He could see how Lexi could take that the wrong way, remembered how Lola had tried her best to not make her feel left out or jealous when Peggy had been born, and Ben had just blatantly disregarded that conversation, chalking Lexi’s bad mood up to her being a little diva as always. When all along she was just insecure about her place in Ben and Callum’s life.

  
Ben wiped away the tears now flowing from his daughter’s eyes, sitting down next to her on the couch and pulling her onto his lap.

  
“Hey, sweetheart. I need you to listen to me very carefully now, can you do that?”, he waited until she gave him a nod to continue, needing to be sure she understood what he was about to tell her, “you will always be my number one girl, yeah. And Callum and I love the bones of you. Even if we have a baby together at some point, you will always be our daughter and you will always belong to our family, to us. It don’t matter if your name is Mitchell or Pearce, everyone knows you’re my little girl and if they don’t, I’ll tell them.”

  
Lexi pressed her face into Ben’s chest, sliding her little arms as far around him as she could. Ben pressed a kiss onto the crown of her head, hugging her close to him.

  
“I’m not little anymore, dad.”

  
Ben chuckled, pulling back to look into her eyes, relieved that she had stopped crying and looked more like herself again; a far cry from the bratty child she had been these past weeks.

  
“You’ll always be my little princess. Now, I think you owe your mum and Callum an apology. And Jay later when you get home, okay?”

  
Lexi nodded, even though her face screamed that she didn’t really want to go and apologize for her behavior. Ben pressed another kiss onto her forehead and set her down again, pushing her towards the kitchen door.

  
He really hoped that his words were enough to quench her fears of being pushed out of their family, if they decided to go ahead with having another child. The last thing he wanted was to upset his daughter in any way.

  
But looking into the kitchen now and seeing his daughter sat on Callum’s lap, telling him something that had both him and Lola smiling widely, Ben got the feeling that everything would be alright and that she would be a brilliant big sister.

  
And if any other kid they had turned out to be only half as amazing as Lexi did, they could definitely count themselves lucky.

5.

Callum was staring up at the ceiling of their bedroom, the usual white paint bathed in subdued blues from the night sky filtering in through the window. They had been lying in silence for a while, Ben’s head pillowed on Callum’s chest and Ben’s arm wrapped around his middle. He had one of his legs positioned in-between Callum’s, his free hand playing with a few strands of Callum’s hair.

  
It felt peaceful in the way only nighttime could feel. Callum knew they should probably go to sleep, they had work and a doctor’s appointment in the morning, but he just couldn’t pass up on the calm and stillness of the moment; like the world had stopped moving and all that still existed in the universe where the two of them in their own little bubble.

  
Callum didn’t want to break the serene atmosphere, but he had never been particularly good at silence.

  
“Do you ever think about how we got here?”

  
“Well, you took the tube and I walked.”, Ben answered, trying and failing to stifle a yawn.

  
Callum rolled his eyes in mock exasperation, even though Ben couldn’t see him from his position on Callum’s chest.

  
“I meant, could you have envisioned us ever getting to this point?”

  
Ben was silent for a while, so long that Callum almost thought he had fallen asleep if it weren’t for Ben’s hand trailing up and down his side.

  
“You mean the house, the children and the minimal drama? No, I couldn’t. Didn’t even think I was the marrying type before you came along.”

  
“Hm, wore you down, didn’t I?”

  
Callum said it around a quiet laugh, both knowing that it had never been Callum that had to wear down Ben. Ben had _seen_ him first, had coaxed him out of the closet, had suggested they move in together. Had been the one, who had proposed on that rainy day in November, days after what they had considered to be their anniversary back then.

  
It had always been Ben to Callum.

  
“If you would’ve told me after that night in the park that we’d end up here together, I wouldn’t have believed it.”

  
“Yeah, me either.” They were silent for a while, before Ben spoke again. “I’m glad though. I don’t know where I’d be without you now, _if_ I’d be there, but I know this is where I should be.”

  
Callum pressed a kiss down onto Ben’s forehead, reveling in the little, content hum his husband let out at the gesture.

  
They were interrupted by the baby monitor kicking on, a quiet noise disturbing the peace and quiet of the moment before. They listened for a bit to see if their son would quieten down again, but the bubbling continued.

  
Ben sighed and pressed a kiss onto Callum’s chest, throwing the duvet on his side back to signal that he was going to take care of it this time.

  
“Right, stop reminiscing about our _great love story_ and go to sleep. I’ll take care of the little one.”

  
Callum watched him until he had tiptoed out of the room and across the landing to the nursery.

  
He fell asleep that night to the quiet coos from his husband coming in through the monitor, thanking his lucky stars for this _great love story_ that had been gifted to him.


End file.
